Dr Kanelos, the former president of the liberal arts college St John’s in Maryland, felt compelled to open UATX after he heard stories of students being chastised for their opinions on abortion and faculty members who were afraid to speak their minds.
The university, which has been branded “anti-woke”, would prefer to describe itself as “incidentally not woke”, according to Dr Kanelos.
Speaking to The Telegraph as the Texan sun poured into his office, he adds: “If what people mean by ‘woke’ is a kind of totalising commitment to a particular ideology [then] that doesn’t really… accord with the authentic pluralism of our institution.”
In other words, they are not “woke” by virtue of the fact that they are listening to all ideas — and rejecting none.
Mike Shires, the university’s chief of staff, also points out that while all views will be heard, they won’t all necessarily be enjoyed.
He sums up the institution as “a place where it’s safe to have conversation, [but] not necessarily that your idea is protected at all costs.”
Its own Supreme Court
As a staunch believer in academic freedom, Dr Kanelos says UATX would be “failing” in its mission if anyone was ever cancelled.
The university has adopted a structure based on the US constitution, which includes its version of the Supreme Court — a group of external scholars to hear and rule on any internal disagreements, such as claims the university has stifled academic freedom. UATX will be “bound” by their decision.
The only people who could be no platformed would be those “explicitly calling for violence or harm against other people”, Dr Kanelos says, adding there is “value” in bringing in speakers to share viewpoints students “violently disagree” with.
The dedication to free speech and diversity of thought is what attracted lecturer Eliah Overbey, 32, to UATX after she noticed the “increasing ideological monoculture” creeping into academia.
The assistant professor of bioastronautics believes the risks could be life-threatening.
“I think about Mars colonisation and space colonisation and putting people on other planets and when I see environments where people can’t speak up out of fear, that is the sort of situation that could lead to a breakdown in these more precarious environments,” she says.
She adds “You have to be able to speak up if you see something wrong, or if you see if you disagree with something that’s happening, when there are lives at stake.”
